1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc player for recording information into and/or reproducing recorded information from a disc such as a compact disc (CD), a CD-ROM, a digital video disc (DVD), and a DVD-ROM. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disc chucking apparatus for seating a disc on a turntable in a rotatable state and a disc player having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a disc player includes a disc loading system for loading a disc to a position for recording information into and/or reproducing recorded information from the disc. The disc loading system loads a disc inserted into the disc player from the front direction thereof to a chucking position on a turntable and then seats the disc on the turntable using a disc chucking apparatus. After the disc has been seated on the turntable, the disc player may record information into or reproduce recorded information from the disc as an optical pickup moves in a radial direction of the disc while the disc is rotating on the turntable.
FIGS. 1 to 3 show a conventional car disc player.
The disc player has a disc chucking apparatus 80 for chucking a first disc 1 having a size of 120 mm or a second disc 2 having a size of 80 mm onto a turntable 95.
The disc chucking apparatus 80 includes a chuck bracket 81 mounted on a main chassis 10 that is pivotal up and down by a hinge axle 86, a subordinate chassis 60 for pivoting the chuck bracket 81 up and down, and a slider 30 for moving the subordinate chassis 60 in the B1 and B2 directions (see FIGS. 2 and 5).
The front end of the chuck bracket 81 located opposite to the hinge axle 86 is provided with a clamper 90 for clamping the first or second disc 1 or 2 to the turntable 95 and the rear end thereof is formed with a first vertical surface 82 by bending. The first vertical surface 82 has a protrusion pin 83 projected toward the subordinate chassis 60.
The subordinate chassis 60 has a second vertical surface 67 formed by bending that is opposite to the first vertical surface 82 of the chuck bracket 81. As shown in FIG. 2, the second vertical surface 67 has a guide slot 68 for receiving and guiding the protrusion pin 83.
A cam slit 61 is formed on one side of the subordinate chassis 60 adjacent to the slider 30.
The rear end of the slider 30 is formed with a cam lug 33 that is inserted into the cam slit 61 of the subordinate chassis 60. The cam slit 61 is guided as the cam lug 33 moves in the A1 and A2 directions, thereby moving the subordinate chassis 60 in the B1 and B2 directions.
Now, the disc loading operation of the disc player configured as described above is described.
As shown in FIG. 1, if a disc, e.g., a first disc 1 having a size of 120 mm is inserted into a housing 50 in the loading direction, i.e., in the A1 direction, a controller (not shown) drives a driving motor 21 (see FIG. 3) on the basis of a signal from a disc detection sensor (not shown) for detecting the entry of the first disc 1. As a result, the first disc 1 is drawn into the housing 50 by a transfer roller 11, wherein the transfer roller 11 receives power from the driving motor 21 through a plurality of connection gears 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.
Thereafter, if the first disc 1 pushes first and second guide rollers 43, 44 of the first and second pivot plates 41, 42, the first and second pivot plates 41, 42 pivot in the C and D directions. Consequently, a contact part 47 of the second pivot plate 42 pushes one end 49 of a first pushing lever 48. Then, while the first pushing lever 48 is rotating in the C direction, the other end 51 of the first pushing lever 48 pushes the slider 30 for a predetermined distance in the A2 direction.
Thereby, a rack gear 31 is connected to a driving gear 32 which receives power of the of the driving motor 21 transmitted through the plurality of connection gears 22, 23, 33, 34 as shown in FIG. 3, with the result that the power of the driving gear 32 is transmitted to the rack gear 31 and the slider 30 is continuously moved in the A2 direction. As the slider 30 moves, the cam slit 61 of the subordinate chassis 60 is guided by the movement of the cam lug 33 of the slider 30 and the subordinate chassis 60 is moved in the B1 direction, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
If the subordinate chassis 60 moves in the B1 direction as mentioned above, the guide slot 68 in the second vertical surface 67 of the subordinate chassis 60 also moves in the B1 direction as shown in FIG. 5. As a result, the protrusion pin 83 of the first vertical surface 82 is guided and lowered by the guide slot 68. As the protrusion pin 83 is lowered, the chuck bracket 81 pivots counterclockwise about the hinge axle 86 thereby being lowered, and the clamper 90 installed at the front end of the chuck bracket 81 rotatably clamps the first disc 1 to the turntable 95.
The first disc 1 clamped as described above is unloaded as follows.
At first, the driving motor 21 is reversely rotated to return the slider 30 in the A1 direction. Then, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the subordinate chassis 60 is also returned to its original position by moving in the B2 direction. Then, the disc chucking apparatus 80 is operated in a reversed sequence with reference to the first disc loading operation, and the first disc 1 is released from the clamper 90 and discharged out of the housing 50 by the transfer roller 11.
However, the conventional car disc player configured as described above has a problem in that the operating connection from the slider 30 to the chuck bracket 81 is not smooth because the disc chucking apparatus 80 employs a complicated operating construction in which the subordinate chassis 60 is moved in the B1 and B2 directions by the movement of slider 30 in the A1 and A2 directions and the disc chucking apparatus 80 is in turn pivoted up and down by the subordinate chassis 60.
If the operating connection from the slider 30 to the chuck bracket 81 is not smooth the slider 30, the subordinate chassis 60 and the chassis 81 may adhere to one another without being moved, thereby causing malfunction.
In order to solve this problem, an additional sliding roller (not shown) is provided or lubricant is additionally supplied between the subordinate chassis 60 and the main chassis 10 which supports the subordinate chassis 60, with the result that additional components or processes are required, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs.
In addition, because the conventional car disc player has a construction in which the chuck bracket 81 anchoring the clamper 90 for clamping a disc is pivoted up and down by the hinge axle 86, the operating space of the chuck bracket 81 is larger than the actual height for lifting and lowering the clamper 90, with the result that the entire thickness of the disc player is increased.